DAY 198 - 3 MARCH 1991
Well, we decided to see what had gone wrong on 10's Starboard MLG strut this time. We had a choice, of replacing it with a new strut, which we didn't have available, so would have to wait on, or take it apart again, and see what went wrong. Well, as it turns out, its a good thing we took it apart, for another look!
Remember, the last time we took the strut apart, it was that long Day from Hell right? Well, we were all kind of tired by the time it went back together. One step we would always take when taking something apart that had very finely machined surfaces, and especially hydraulic parts, is to protect the parts with a very clean "lint free" rag. Not just regular cotton rags now, but a synthetic cloth that doesn't leave even fibers behind. Anyway, as a precaution, we had stuffed a couple lint free rags up into the shock strut barrel, to keep the dust and non skid grit from the hanger floor from migrating up the tube.
When we finally got the seals replaced and the floating piston properly installed into the lower piston assembly, I remember the discussion to make sure all the lint free rags were removed from the various tubes. Then we took a break, came back, did a quick tool count, then reassembled the strut, and were of course happy that it seemed to be working.
So, imagine our surprise as we took it all apart, and found 2 lint free rags, wadded into almost onion skin thin layers, practically oozing through some baffles and completely closing off the metering ports. Imagine the effect of squishing Play Dough through a screen, then freezing it solid, and then trying to remove all evidence of your deeds... all before your mom comes home, knowing full well that if she caught you, it would be your ass stuck and frozen to the screen door. We spent several hours, with tweezers, razor blades, and needle nose pliers until we were successful with removing all the remnants of that evil rag.
Until now, Denis had the call sign of "Rafter Man", from another funny but potentially dangerous foul up on another detachment that we were both on. After tonight, Denis became "Rag Man" and only 4 of us ever knew why, and we were sworn to secrecy... since we all had missed the rag. Denis was QA, so it was his job to LOOK, not to ASK if the rag was removed. Not that the rest of us were blameless, I was CDI, there was another CDI, and we all missed it too. Long nights are like that sometimes.
So, Denis was Rafter Man before tonight...
It was last year, another ship, a different ocean, a different crew, but some of the same players. Maybe even the same helos, I know we had 10 then, actually we had 07 then too! Interesting how that happens... Anyway, Denis is an aircrew, one of the two lucky guys who gets paid extra, to ride around in the helos all the time. The Aircrew have intercom head sets built into their helmets, so they can talk to the Pilots.They have long cables that run from their head sets to their intercom station inside the helo, and the cables are always getting snagged on things, the inside of the helo is one big snaggle party it seems.
Also inside the helo are rescue flares to mark survivors in the water, and hoisting gear, and life rafts... No, if Denis had managed to fire off a flare inside the helo, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have had much fun teasing him about that!
Denis had managed to get his ICS cable snagged on the Pull to Inflate tab on a 30 Man Life Raft. Now try to picture how big a 30 Man Life Raft is when it is fully inflated. Also, try to imagine something starting off the size of a large duffle bag, and EXPLOSIVELY INFLATING to about medium Car size in maybe a second. WHOOOOOSH Big Freaking Orange thing IN YOUR FACE. There's no where to run!
On the one side of the raft, was Denis, pinned against the side of the helo, his ICS cable torn from his helmet, just completely jammed against the wall, dazed and stuck. On the front of the raft, was Searles, a fairly small guy, pushed completely into the cockpit through the small passageway, and also stuck, practically laying onto the center console and desparately trying not to touch any of the controls... Did I mention they were FLYING when this happened? And several miles from the ship, no less.
Now, the pilots were startled by the loud exploding commotion happening in the back, and quite suprised to see Searles catapulted into the cockpit. Next was the realization they couldn't see or talk to Denis, so didn't know if he was ok, or even in the helo anymore. And no one could move! Eventually Denis was able to wiggle out of his position and then crawl over to the air dump valve, and then deflate the raft. Mean time, Searles was reaching for his survival knife to do his on deflation of the raft, but that wasn't neccessary.
Meantime back on the ship, I'm a flight deck safety observer. We get a call that the aircraft was coming back with a situation. Oh and can the Parachute Rigger / Safety Equipment trouble shooter please report to the flight deck. Our PR dude was the ultimate in kick back, playing video games, and wearing shorts and flip flops. Great guy, but his job was pretty limited, only fixed things for the aircrew when they were actually not flying right? And there was only one of him, so he typically worked when the helos weren't flying.
So the helo lands, and we can't really see much yet, and our PR guy comes out on deck, his cranial, goggles down, his float coat on and buttoned, wearing shorts and flip flops. My first reaction was to stop him, he's not wearing pants or boots or gloves, right? But something else caught my eye about the same time. A now flacid life raft starting to be folded out of the crew door, sort of like a catapillar crawling out of a hole. Soon about 6 of us were grabbing on to the life raft to carry it back into the hanger... sort of looked like those Chinese Dragons you see in the parades right?
Ok, story time is over, been a long night, and its off to the racks... Good night!
